Vocabulary:

currency	валюта; средство обмена
commodity money	товарные деньги
beads	бисер, бусинки
warehouse receipt	товарная квитанция на груз, принятый на хранение
legal tender (banknotes)	законное платежное средство, официально принятое государством (банкноты)
token money	разменная монета
to back (paper money, currency)	поддерживать, обеспечивать (бумажные деньги, валюту)
alike	похожий, одинаковый
feature	признак, особенность
unit	единица (денежная)
to figure out	подсчитывать
durable	прочный, долговечный
to last	служить
to wear out	изнашиваться
to fall apart	распадаться (на части)

Comprehension questions:

1. How do people usually define money?

2. What is a broad definition of money?

3. What is commodity money?

4. What are two basic types of modern money?

5. What is token money?

6. What are the common features of currency?

Do you know?

Coinage was the invention of the Greeks. The Italians, Dutch, French and English were the developers of banks and certain banking. Paper money was the gift of Americans and Canadians to the Western world.

The prime exponent* of paper money in these years was Benjamin Franklin. He thought it a good and useful thing. He printed money for the colonial government on his own printing press.

*exponent – (зд.) изготовитель

Task 1: Match the words to their definitions.

cash	the money used in a particular country
currency	money in the form of coins of low value
change	a flat round piece of metal used as money
note (BrE), bill (AmE)	a piece of paper money
coin	money in the form of coins and notes

Task 2: Match the sentence beginnings with the correct endings.

After six months she’d saved enough money	so they never have anything to worry about
I'm sure you'll earn enough money	so we can't afford new equipment this year.
If you've never invested money before	to buy your own flat
They make a lot of money,	to have her shop redecorated
We are going to organise a concert	to raise money for the homeless
We've spent a lot of money on advertising	why don’t you ask your bank manager for advice?

Task 3: Write down the verbs from Task 2 which often go with the word money. Make a few sentences of your own.

to ……..

to ……..

to .save..

MONEY

to ……..

to ……..

to ……..

Text 2: MONEY AND ITS FUNCTIONS

All values in the economic system are measured in terms of money. Our goods and services are sold for money, and that money is in turn exchanged for other goods and services. Coins are adequate for small transactions, while paper notes are used for general business. There is additionally a wider sense of the word “money”, covering anything which is used as a means of exchange, whatever form it may take. Originally, a valuable metal (gold, silver or copper) served as a constant store of value. Because gold has been universally regarded as a very valuable metal, national currencies were for many years judged in terms of the so-called “gold standard”.

Nowadays however valuable metal has generally been replaced by paper notes. National currencies are considered to be as strong as the national economies which support them. Paper notes are issued by governments and authorized banks, and are known as “legal tender”. Other arrangements such as cheques and money orders are not legal tender. They perform the function of substitute money and are known as “instruments of credit”.

The value of money is basically its value as a medium of exchange, or, as economists put it, its “purchasing power”. This purchasing power is dependent on supply and demand. The demand for money is reckonable as the quantity needed to effect business transactions. An increase in business requires an increase in the amount of money coming into general circulation. But the demand for money is related not only to the quantity of business but also to the rapidity with which the business is done. The supply of money, on the other hand, is the actual amount in notes and coins available for business purposes. If too much money is available, its value decreases, and it does not buy as much as it did, say, five years earlier. This condition is known as “inflation”.